Friday, June 10, 2016

Warcraft - Movie Review: For the What and Why?

What does it take to make a great movie adapted from a video
game? Whatever it does, Warcraft didn’t do it.

Warcraft is the latest video game to be adapted to film and
stars Toby Kebbell, Paula Patton, Travis Fimmel, Ben Foster, and is directed by
Duncan Jones. The movie tells the story of an Orc invasion to the land of
Azeroth were humans and a host of other races live. The Orc world is dying, and
they must leave it in order to survive. The reason their world is dying is
because of a magic called “The Fel” and it draws life out of the world. A
powerful Orc mage, Gul’Dan, has harnessed the fel and uses it help him rule over
the orc people and convince them to invade Azeroth.

For someone who has never played World of Warcraft I didn’t
know what type of story to expect from the film. The trailers had been all over
the place in regards to tone, and with some of the early negative buzz I was
worried going in. The film starts with a brief exposition monologue from the
orc Durotan. What was impressive about
Warcraft was the Orc storyline. I related to most of the main Orc characters
and wanted them to succeed. The CG on the Orcs was fantastic and their look did
not take me out of the film. Durotan’s story is compelling and Toby Kebbell
does a great job with his motion capture performance. He stole the movie and
was one of, if not the only, saving grace for the film. Duncan Jones makes an
extremely bold choice with Durotan’s story, maybe it wasn’t bold if you know
the game, but then it is ruined right after the choice was made. There was no
payoff for the decision he makes for Durotan’s character. It has very little
bearing on the course of the movie after it is made. This is a shame, because
of the story told up to this point in the film.

The Orc story, even with the disappointing conclusion, is
still leaps and bounds above anything on the human side. Most of the actors who
play the humans disappoint, but none greater than Ben Foster. I like Ben Foster
as an actor. He has been in some great movies, and played some fantastic
characters in them. He almost completely steals 310 to Yuma over Russell Crowe
and Christian Bale. His performance in Warcraft as The Guardian is comically
bad. I’m not sure it is all his fault, because much of his story feels
truncated and maybe many of his scenes were cut. His character has zero
motivation for his actions in the film, and what he does throughout the film
makes no sense. Maybe it will for fans of the game, but that is a fault in the
story. Someone who has never played the game should be able to go into the
movie and not have questions about why a character acts a certain way. It’s
disappointing because Foster could have been great if used in a different way.

Not far behind the comical role Foster plays is another
magic user Khadgar played by Ben Schnetzer. He has very little backstory or
motivation behind his actions either. We know he leaves the magic order, but we
never find out why. There is a more backstory for him than The Guardian, but
not much. Most of his lines come across stiff and unbelievable. I’m not sure if
this is more to do with writing, his acting, or Duncan Jones directing. He however
is not the only who comes across as unbelievable within the film.

Travis Fimmel plays the main hero Lothar in the film and
while he gives the most competent performance on the live action side, it still
isn’t great. He was at least believable as a competent warrior, unlike Dominic
Cooper who played the King. Which is
strange because Cooper’s performance in Preacher has shown he can play a badass.
It makes me think the performances are more on the writing and direction than
the actors.

An interesting choice with Cooper’s character is made as
well, and it ultimately sets up a sequel. If the human story hadn’t been so
poorly developed I might not have minded setting up a second film. However it
was, and they did, and it was an extremely poor decision. They tried to
franchise the property without making sure they made a good film to start with
first. Yes many properties are doing this now, and I’m a major fan of one of
them, but there was a basis for Star Wars, because of the previous movies, this
has none. Since video game films have never taken off, they should have focused
on making this a contained well put together story first, and then if it did
well go for the sequel. The way it was setup here is pretentious.

There were things to like in Warcraft. Like I said the Orc
storyline was well put together and their motivations are fully developed. Aside
from Ganora’s the half human half orc. Paula Patton does a good job in the
role, but we don’t find out much about her backstory, which could have added to
the overall human story in the film. The action overall is well done and the
devastation the Orc’s wreck is impressive. I still can’t recommend this movie
other than for people who have played the game. I think if you have played the
game its worth seeing, because you probably will understand the undeveloped
human storyline. If you have never played the game then this is not worth
seeing. Watch it for free when it comes to a paid channel, but don’t pay for
it. A sequel will probably still happen because it is doing well
internationally, but I won’t be seeing it if it is released.

What did you think of
Warcraft if you have seen it? If you have played the game did the human
storyline make sense?